Post your infection

They look good to me.. looks like the beginning of fermentation.. CO2 bubbles from the yeast and some yeast..

So far I havent had a infection, but from what I am seeing of the pictures and talking to friends..

If you have an infection it will look more like a thin white film with spider web like threads running across the top with possibly LARGE (3/4" or larger) bubbles growing from the film. Like someone is blowing bubbles with your beer and no the kind in the picture above, or the kind you expect to see in a beer with a nice head. It also looks like it would have very little or no head.

So far my limited experience has been it goes from the bubbling you see in your pictures, to a nice white and foamy head (The Krausen if you will - which is just a nice head of CO2 bubbles from the yeast), then as it gets older and the yeast get more active they will get ejected from the beer and get thrown on top of the Krausen causing it to develop black spots on top, and then slowly build up yeast colonys on top of the Krausen, which can start making it look ugly. Then from there is can waver from a clean Krausen to an ugly one depending on how busy the yeast are, what gets to heavy on top and falls through.

I'm a newbie myself, but deliberately did 2 styles (Lager and Stout) to see the differences and my experiences with both have been fairly consistent (and both were infection free as far as I could tell) . Starts with some small surface bubbling, bubbling gets more active and tightens up to give you a nice head (Krausen), then the head gets brown/black spots, then small yeast rafts develop on top, and these rafts can get quiet gooey and gross looking. Then towards the end it all falls through the beer to the bottom leaving some floaters and a ring on the top. Does taht sound about right to the long time brewers here ?

Anyway, the Oktoberfest I am doing is using a lager yeast and is fermenting at fairly low tempuratures (50s-60). It took 2 days to just get fermentation to start and is now on day 9 and still fermenting very well.

By day 6 it had the pretty white Krausen. Then I had the room where it was sitting get a little warm (up to 64) and the yeast got all sorts of busy and made a huge mess of my pretty Krausen. It freaked me out a little as it was ejecting yeast at a monumental rate. Then as I mentioned above the temps dropped back, the yeast chilled out a bit and the Krausen got back its nice white cap. Took a sample last night and it was fantastic.. and it's still going.

The stout had a warmer fermentation and used an Ale yeast. It finished a LOT faster - 6 days start to finish. Fermentation started within 8 hours, and the Krausen was pretty on day 2, by day 3 it got ugly.. and stayed that way. It was finished day 5 and fermentation was virtually over, On day 6 the Krausen dropped through down to the yeast cake, leaving the top clean with some yeast rafts floating around.

Hope that helps some noobs like myself in visualizing what you can expect to see. Different styles at different temps I am sure will cause different fermentation rates, and different yeast ejaculate.

My next batch I will try to take pictures of the stages as I seem to be having fairly good luck with sanitation and have a nice clear fermenter to see whats going on.

I've read at least half of this thread (yes, around 45-50 pages) and I think I have a bona fide infection...

This is an attempt to clone Bell's two-hearted ale (not only because I like it, but because I *know* it, so I can use it to see how good (or bad) my process is). The below pic was taken on day 2 in the secondary. I left the beer in the primary for 7 days and racked to secondary for dry hopping despite it not appearing particularly clear (using Wyeast 1056).

Whatever this stuff is clinging to the bag of hops, methinks it ain't s'sposed to be there:

It may or may not be.. doesn't look terrible. How long has it been there..? Has it grown..?

Could just be something that was on the bag. If its just that piece sanitize a tube and suck it off the top and see if it grows back.

How close to bottling are you? I would just go with it

As has been told to me many a time in my month doing this.. RDWHAHB.. It is what it is, and what it will be and since your in the secondary, its obviously Beer now.

BTW most images of real infections I have seen, have covered the whole top of the brew. Not just a spot.. Usually a spot of something is a yeast cake, some gunk that dried on the inside of the fermenter that came loose, a foreign item that came in when adding stuff to the secondary, etc.

This is what I think now when trying to envision an infection..




I have seen some pics of Lacto and a few others that were flatter, and had big flat growths, etc.. but all seemed to have that same sheen to the water.

Lots that were just foreign junk..

Hey everyone,

See below with the photo of my batch almost 2 weeks in. I think everything is fine but just was concerned with the greenish color on the top. I think it's only hops. Does everything look ok?

Thanks

Matthew

CDGoin said:

It may or may not be.. doesn't look terrible. How long has it been there..? Has it grown..?

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Nope, it hasn't grown. I just noticed it this morning and it seems to be holding steady.

CDGoin said:

Could just be something that was on the bag. If its just that piece sanitize a tube and suck it off the top and see if it grows back.

How close to bottling are you? I would just go with it

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Makes sense. Also, thanks for the hand-holding. I'm pretty new at this and probably worrying a bit too much (ahem... like most of the other newbs on here, I've noticed ).

I just racked to the secondary to do the dry hop for one week thing so bottling will most likely occur this coming Sunday.

I would RDWHAHB but neither of my two batches are ready (though my first one, an ESB, was bottled last Sunday), so I guess I'll settle for a Victory Hop Devil for now

Thanks for the help, btw. I really appreciate it.

MagicSmoker said:

Makes sense. Also, thanks for the hand-holding. I'm pretty new at this and probably worrying a bit too much (ahem... like most of the other newbs on here, I've noticed )..

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I have no idea what your talking about


Trust me I only have you beat by a few weeks.. I just ahve been lucky to get two nice batches that have been normal.. AND I had (Have?) a habit of worrying too much myself.

Do you by chance have a spout on the bottom to take a sample..?

I find my hydrometer test samples seem to calm me down while I wait for my brew to finish

mgriggsbrewing said:

Hey everyone,

See below with the photo of my batch almost 2 weeks in. I think everything is fine but just was concerned with the greenish color on the top. I think it's only hops. Does everything look ok?

Thanks

Matthew

View attachment 94781

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Looks OK to me..
That said, yours looks a bit on the full side.

Looks like you possibly just didn't have room for the Krausen to grow.. so its trying to escape through the vent.

BTW.. seen a couple threads about bad things happening to plugged blowout tubes.. I realize yours is a air vent.. but in either case I would make sure it doesn't get plugged up.

What is that a Gallon batch..?

I used a blow off tube for the first 2 days and then put the airlock on. It's a one gallon batch. I was just a little worried with the greenish color on the top. Maybe I'm just a little nervous

if its greenish on top of a Krausen.. dont worry just yeast that ejected to the top of the Krausen. Hard to tell from pics.

CDGoin said:

if its greenish on top of a Krausen.. dont worry just yeast that ejected to the top of the Krausen. Hard to tell from pics.

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Or probably the hop pellet residue.

MotorcycleMatt said:

You should be putting your I.mersion chiller into the boil with 10-15 minutes left on the boil.

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Or, if you are boiling over a heat source larger than your pot, like me, you can keep your wort chiller in a bucket of sanitizer until immediately before tossing in. The wort temp will still kill any bacteria all the way down to 140F, so it wont hurt to throw it in a hot pot off the flame. But acid based sanitizer will strip the patina off your copper coil.

Currently in the secondary.





Any thoughts on what I should do with it at this point?

loetz said:

Currently in the secondary.

Any thoughts on what I should do with it at this point?

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Was it supposed to be a sour? What is the beer? How does it taste?

I've had one similar to that with a stout, though it was a very thin layer with no bubbles. A hydrometer sample smelled and tasted ok. Since the fermentation was complete I carefully racked to a keg, leaving a little bit more than normal in the bucket so that way I didn't get any of that film in my keg. It wasn't my best beer, but it was certainly drinkable. I made sure to drink it quickly, since I was afraid an infection would start again in the keg.

If it had big nasty bubbles I'd probably dump it, but if it isn't too bad and tastes ok, I say drink it now before it gets worse.

It's a Founders Breakfast Stout, so no it wasn't meant to be sour. I have a lot of beer on stock right now, so I suppose I might as well pitch this one. It's a shame though.

Not sure if it's an infection? Smells great though! Any ideas?

BeerAbs said:

Not sure if it's an infection? Smells great though! Any ideas?

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Nah, thats just yeast. Looks good, seal it back up!

loetz said:

It's a Founders Breakfast Stout, so no it wasn't meant to be sour. I have a lot of beer on stock right now, so I suppose I might as well pitch this one. It's a shame though.

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It is a shame! :smack: You might have just invented a new Wienerbraun or something. If in doubt, let it sit. In another month or so, it might be fantastic!

Wanted to post my nasty LOOKING krausen, that is FAR from infected, but looks gastly. (Wish I had the camera this morning as it was stunning, it had a nice clean head on it.. ).





Man these yeast are active as all get out.. !! I am at about hour 20 on this Russian Imperial Stout.. Went from light bubbles yesterday, to a 1-1/2" pure white Krausen, to this..

This is the Yeast just having a good old time.. and shooting themselves all on top of the nice pillow above them.

I will post more the next few days at:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/russian-imperial-stout-third-extract-batch-385251/

As the Krausen gets uglier and uglier and then falls.. Maybe this will help others ID a infection vs just a lot of happy yeast making a mess of things.

Do have one question for the experts..

With this much activity.. should I go ahead and put a blow off tube on it tonight..? I am getting wicked activity and have never seen this much.. don't want it to go all SUPER happy on me and leave a mess in my room.. ON the other hand its in my garage, and I don't want to open it up to bad things either.

I just racked my imperial stout. It didn't get higher than that in my bucket. A blow off tube does not hurt though, and I always use one just in case since I'm always brewing big beers. I wouldn't worry about opening it to infection, there's plenty of a co2 'blanket' on top of that RIS. I've found big beers are very resilient.

I've never seen that kind of carboy, that's different.

Its supposedly a early Mr Beer (Or possibly Mr Brew).. It was given to me and although odd.. I like it.

Lots of head room
Nice and light
Clear see thru
Nice large 8" screw on top (w/ seal)
Top fits a standard air vent.
My colander fits in the opening so I can strain off the hops and such..
It even has a spout on the bottom about 3/4" off the bottom (Like on a bottling bucket can simply screw off for cleaning)



Been trying to find info on it and haven't so much as a wiki mention. Just what I was told and what a few here have said.. Which is the first sentence




Anyway I went and rigged something up.. removed the top of the air vent and put a 1/2" hose to it and ran it to a glass of water sitting next to it in the sink. filled it up about 2" enough for the water pressure to equalize the air pressure.. burping about once a sec now.. about the same rate the top was burping on the vent. If it blows up now it should just dump overfill the glass and go right into the sink.. That should work right..?

BTW got to love Craigs' list.. haven't cleaned my garage yet, but found that stainless steel service sink that fit perfect on there for $100.. and It came with the faucet. Be it I had to change the faucet arm to hold a 3/4" garden hose fitting but can't complain for $100. I had to replace the sink as it was too grubby to use for any sort of brewing activity and it was broken to the point of not being able to hold water. Hopefully I can make the rest of the room into a brew room once I get the garage cleaned up.

And you have a urinal in your garage...lol?

That set up should be fine, I use a bigger gallon jug to run the house into next to it.

Yep.. no room for a ****ter When I added the additon, I Added to the side of the house.. so I had access to the end of the plumbing line.

Being a plumbing designer for a Mechanical contractor.. I had access to leftover stuff.. Needless to say all my car buddies are all jealous

CDGoin said:

Yep.. no room for a ****ter When I added the additon, I Added to the side of the house.. so I had access to the end of the plumbing line.

Being a plumbing designer for a Mechanical contractor.. I had access to leftover stuff.. Needless to say all my car buddies are all jealous

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That is amazing. I planned on one in a room inside my brew room when SWMBO and I finally start building our place in a year or so. But right there! That's awesome.

I figured I am in garage, and while in the garage working on my cars I am grubby, and last thing SWMBO would want is me trekking through the house. I thought I should add a small bathroom in the garage.

During design I realized, I was just slightly lower than crawl space. But, I did have the fall for a sink and could install one with minimal plumbing. But installing a WC would require a lot of digging.. so a full bathroom was out.

Then I thought, I tend to be drinking beer while in the garage, which means I usually don't have to do anything more than take a leak and well.. and there did seem to be room in the storage closet.

TA DA !! An Urinal in a garage thought was hatched, and born.

BTW Think every guy that spends any amount of time in his garage should have one.

Hey guys I have been brewing on and off for a couple years. I have never had an infection, but 2 weeks in secondary tomorrow I went down to look at my first real lager. And this is what's going on. I was hoping to rack to a keg tonight to carb and take to a ski-weekend. I haven't tasted it yet. Any thoughts?

Looks like a yeast raft to me.

Darwin18 said:

Looks like a yeast raft to me.

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+1

Yup it looks fine to me too

Thanks guys, just seemed to pop up in the last few days so I was skeptical but with your confidence I'll try it tonight before kegging.

This is a smoked Porter that I racked in the secondary on fresh vanilla beans that I had in vodka for about a week. Could this film be from the vanilla or an infection of some kind? Only my second batch so this might be a noob question

OK.. this one I will have to sit back and let the experts comment on.

Just a few questions though:

How long has it been in secondary..? When did the film show up ? Have you taste tested it from under the film..?

I personally would taste test it and bottle it but leave a bit more in the carboy.. as to not get that in it.. Because since its in secondary, its already beer. Just a matter of it tastes bad or not.

Also as someone has also pointed out.. you can not get sick from anything in Beer..

(And someone says I don't listen.. its the SWMBO.. but I digress)

sweed said:

I've never seen that kind of carboy, that's different.

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Mystery solved:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/reviews/early-mr-beer.html

Finally got some answers from the Mr Beer forum. :rockin:

It has only been in secondary for four days and last night I noticed this. It has a little more than that on it this morning. I was gonna wait about two weeks before bottling but do I need to get it bottled sooner? Haven't tasted yet

Hmm.. only four days. Does it look oily to you or opaque and whitish..?

Most infections I have seen that were definitely infections the plaques grew, started creating tendrils, and bubbles and were opaque looking.

Non-infections that were "contaminated" with coffee & Chocolate oils, Vanilla bean stuff, etc.. had a more of an oily composition.. and didn't grow to much more than a thin film or junk.

To me it looks like it COULD simply be just the vodka and vanilla beans..

As I mentioned there are much better experts at this than me.. I haven't had one yet. But did a lot of research on it when I thought my batches were infected and have seen other friends that brew get them.

Seems your options are:

Keep an eye on it and see if it grows, and if it starts growing bubbles
(Prove its an infection)

or

Let it ride
(Its beer.. and beer is good.. what it becomes it becomes.. )

or

Bottle it now and let condition in bottles..
(In case it is infection and you can get some beer out now before the infection gets through out the beer)

or

Rerack it into a fresh sanitary secondary, without additions.. and lose the last inch or so.. and see what happens..

If it were me.. I would probably let it ride and see what happens. If it gets too ugly then worry, otherwise it may just be those Vanilla beans and its no big deal.

Often I hear, its best to not look at it.. just let it do its thing, and when bottling time comes you get what you get. 99 times out of 100 it comes out fine.

It has an oily look to it but also has a few white spots also. Thanks for all your help. I think I'm going to just let it ride for another week or so and go from there.

Yea, if the big plaques on the water are oily, and then a few white spots. I would say its the Vanilla and some yeast rafts.

How long would you normal keep it in the secondary if you were adding an extract, to get the maximum out of the additions?

I'm so surprised at how many people throw out beer!! Just bottle it and see what happens!! You're not going to die or anything! Tons of common foods and drinks are "infected" and are perfectly safe to consume.

Yep.. My first batch is barely drinkable, not sure if its infection or a poor job making it.. But I am drinking it.

WillKing said:

How long would you normal keep it in the secondary if you were adding an extract, to get the maximum out of the additions?

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Not sure.. 2 weeks would be my guess.